Exploring Pagan Spirituality from an Anglo Saxon Druid Perspective

Deep Ecology

The Deep Ecology platform is a philosophy of life or world-view first coined by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess that teaches how to live in sustainable relationships with the world around us. I believe it to be one of the foundations upon which Naturalistic Pantheism is built. Here are its principles and below that a really good video from Satish Kumar about Deep Ecology…

1. The well-being and flourishing of human and non-human life on Earth have value in themselves (synonyms: inherent worth, intrinsic value, inherent value). These values are independent of the usefulness of the non-human world for human purposes.

2. Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in themselves.

3. Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital needs.

4. Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening.

5. The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease.

6. Policies must therefore be changed. The changes in policies affect basic economic, technological, and ideological structures. The resulting state of affairs will be deeply different from the present.

7. The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situations of inherent worth) rather than adhering to an increasingly higher standard of living. There will be a profound awareness of the difference between big and great.

8. Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to participate in the attempt to implement the necessary changes.